It’s not uncommon for artists to use their life lessons and experiences in their pieces. In the music industry, celebrities, like Taylor Swift, are famous for using this trope. 

However, she is not the only one who has used her music to tell the stories of her ex-lovers. Selena Gomez has come back onto the scene and released her single “Lose You to Love Me” on October 23, 2019. And what came with it was a truly moving piece about self-love and acceptance. 

It’s been a hot minute since Gomez has released her own music. Her last album, “Revival,” released in 2016 with songs such as “Kill Them with Kindness,” “Same Old Love,” and “Hands to Myself.” 

Many people flocked to the new song once it dropped and it has already reached 71 million views in 4 days. 

There are multiple reasons the song drew people in: many fans of Gomez were excited to hear her new work, the message of a life changing and emotional pain, and learning how to love yourself resonated with many (like myself), and many believed that Gomez was hinting at her past relationship with fellow singer Justin Bieber.

Many of us grew up in a pop culture atmosphere with Bieber and Gomez’s love story at its center. The pair started dating in 2011 and had been in an on again off again relationship until 2014. The two reconciled in late 2017 for several months before they split for good. 

Since then, Gomez went on to date fellow artist The Weeknd until they split and Bieber went on to date and marry American model Hailey Baldwin. With the release of Gomez’s new song, many speculated that she was referring to her ex. 

Though she never explicitly calls out Bieber, “Lose You to Love Me” talks about the hardships of a toxic relationship, from how “[she] saw the signs and [she] ignored it” and “In two months, you replaced us / Like it was easy / Made me think I deserved it / in the thick of healing.” 

Whoever Gomez is talking about in this song, whether that be Bieber or someone else, we can see that whoever she’s referring to hurt her tremendously, that she was so head over heels for them, and crashed hard after the fall. 

This is a song about healing, about one’s need to let go of the toxicity in one’s life to be able to grow, and about learning how to love oneself.  

It’s sad that she has to relive this experience every day. She will forever be labeled as Justin Bieber’s ex no matter how successful she is on her own. 

With this song, however, we can see that Gomez is ready to let go of this part of her life, to learn how to love herself, and how not to rely on others for happiness. 

Selena Gomez is continuously growing not only as an artist but as a person, and I for one cannot wait to see how far she goes as she continues to heal.